


SoudaBeast

by zenonaa



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 16:57:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7540615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Kazuichi grinned down at them all, riding a large, loaf-shaped machine that belched out smoke from its behind. Its colours ranged from rusted orange, violet and silver, covering its body in metal plates, and its eyes glowed red.<br/>“Hey, guys,” said Kazuichi. He dragged the back of his hand across the end of his nose.<br/>“What the Hell, Souda?” said Hajime, leaning back a bit.'</p><p>Souda brings his newest invention to breakfast.</p>
            </blockquote>





	SoudaBeast

**Author's Note:**

> for an anon on the tumblerer

Clouds hung in the sky like laundry on a washing line, as usual. Hajime noted this to himself at one of the tables in the restaurant of Hotel Mirai, chin propped in the palm of his right hand. If Mahiru was still alive, she would have wagged her finger at him and asked if he was wiping the table clean with his elbow or if he was just so lazy that he needed to hold his head up. Hiyoko would have laughed and suggested they scrub the floor with Mikan’s face next, and Mikan would have cried, and Ibuki would have suggested cleaning with Mikan’s other end, and Byakuya would have demanded them all to behave while he chomped on Teruteru’s banquet breakfast.

He could nearly hear their squabbling and laughter, how Byakuya’s voice would increase in volume as he progressed through his sentence and how Hiyoko would have whined while Mikan stuttered apologies, to list a few, but they all dissolved in Hajime’s imagination, becoming as formless as the clouds outside. His eyes closed a little.

“Would you like rooibos tea or cola with your breakfast?” Nekomaru bellowed into Fuyuhiko’s ear and though Hajime was sitting at another table, he and everyone else still jumped in their seats.

Fuyuhiko gave a strangled yelp and almost fell sideways off his chair, dipping out of sight for a few seconds, before he reached up a hand and slammed it against the table. Shortly after, the rest of his body emerged as he sat properly again. With a pronounced grimace, and twitching slightly, he positioned his hands close to his ears, shoulders hunched.

“It’s too early for you to be making noise like that! And who the hell has cola for breakfast anyway?” asked Fuyuhiko.

“Souda-kun does,” piped up Nagito.

Akane swallowed and shoved another chicken leg into her mouth. Though her voice came out somewhat muffled, she managed to say, “Where is that guy anyway? Shouldn’t he have come by now?”

“Perhaps he got lost or injured himself on his way here,” suggested Chiaki. “Someone should go look for him...”

She tugged her hood toward her forehead.

“With our dwindling numbers, it’s important that we stick together as a team.”

And then,

“I think,” she added.

Gundam, whose index fingers were gently pressed against a snoozing Jum-P’s ears, said, “As painful as the melodramatic one is to be around, we ought to confirm that he has not fallen victim to one of us. It’s certainly feasible, given the circumstances.”

Even though Monobear hadn’t yet put another motive into action, Hajime was inclined to believe him.

“Ah, shouldn’t we eat our breakfast first?” asked Sonia. “He most likely overslept, and our food will get cold if we go searching for him now...”

Hajime glanced at her bowl of yogurt and orange slices.

“I don’t think-” Before Hajime could get another word out beyond those, a loud roar resonated from outside. Everyone sprung off their seats except Nekomaru, who was pouring tea from his left eye into Fuyuhiko’s cup and who instead started beeping like he was connecting to dial-up internet.

At the end of his sequence of beeping, a single toned noise emitted from Nekomaru and he belatedly jolted, drizzling tea across Fuyuhiko’s lap and the floor.

“What was that?” asked Sonia, a hand over her mouth. Behind her, Fuyuhiko pulled a series of grotesque expressions through his pain.

The others darted out of the room, heading outside. On her way out, Akane snatched up a banana and a couple of fish slices, shoved them into her mouth and broke into a sprint with her cheeks puffed out.

Hajime burst out of the hotel lobby first and stepped into sunlight, hand curved across his brow. His eyes soon flicked up to the source of the terrible racket that they could still hear. Kazuichi grinned down at them all, riding a large, loaf-shaped machine that belched out smoke from its behind. Its colours ranged from rusted orange, violet and silver, covering its body in metal plates, and its eyes glowed red.

“Hey, guys,” said Kazuichi. He dragged the back of his hand across the end of his nose.

“What the Hell, Souda?” said Hajime, leaning back a bit.

“Huh?”

Akane jerked her head to one side, squinting. “Is that one of those Monobeasts?”

It certainly resembled one of them, but Hajime couldn’t remember seeing it previously. One had been a bear-tiger thing, another a bird, another some kind of snake and another might have been a horse... Hajime accepted at this point that he didn’t really know what any of them were meant to be, so for all he knew, this could have been one of the pre-existing robots. Of greater importance was the fact that not only was it not guarding an island, but it wasn’t trying to kill Kazuichi either.

Sonia flung a hand to her lips, wide-eyed. “But how can this be? It isn’t a member of Monobear’s posse.”

Which suggested that Hajime could afford to give his memory more credit, if Sonia didn’t recognise it either.

Kazuichi dusted his knuckles against his chest and smirked.

“That’s because it isn’t one of them, Sonia-san,” he explained. “It’s three of them!”

“T-Three?” repeated Nagito, arm bent in front of him like he was wielding a shield. He blinked twice and said, “Do you mean that the creature you’re riding...?”

“Hell yeah. Monomi gave me the scrap for them in exchange for a foot rub and I made it into this guy,” said Kazuichi.

There was a long silence.

Fuyuhiko, who had just arrived, said, “Foot... rub?”

“Fools, that is not the part you should be focusing on,” said Gundam. He whipped his finger forward and pointed at Kazuichi, who glared back at him. “This is no ‘creature’ or ‘guy’... It is a machine! A desecration against the laws of nature! Blasphemy in physical form! A... A...”

“... a mecha hamster,” said Sonia.

Hajime tilted his head to one side, then the other side. It did look kind of like a hamster. He pinched his chin in thought and narrowed his eyes.

“The foot rub is more disturbing than the mecha hamster,” said Hajime but he, like the others around him, could not avert his eyes from Kazuichi’s creation.

“I managed to configure some AI onto it. I mean, it’s nothin’ fancy. I’d have to be a Super High School Level Programmer or Hacker to fit it with something like that, ‘specially with the parts I had available, but it’s as smart as a hamster,” said Kazuichi. “It’s better, even, ‘cause this one’s got armour plates and a cannon, and it can breathe fire and spit acid and stuff.”

Nekomaru nodded sagely. Gundam glowered at it.

“So, what do you think?” asked Kazuichi, because apparently he hadn’t been able to gauge their thoughts from their reactions.

Nagito gave a weak smile. “It is what I would expect from the Super High School Level Mechanic...”

“How many hits can it take?” asked Akane, and she punched her palm.

“What about you, Sonia-san?” said Kazuichi, completely ignoring the feedback he already received. If one could even call them feedback anyway. Hajime just wished his friend wouldn’t be so transparent.

Sonia slapped on a polite smile.

“We can use it to fight against the remaining Monobeasts,” she suggested. “Then we wouldn’t have to depend on Monomi.”

Kazuichi nodded enthusiastically. “I can’t think of a better use for it. Ah, as expected from Sonia-san!”

“I nominate Tanaka-san to ride it into battle!” Sonia said and she straightened her arm out in front of her, palm forward.

Gundam and Kazuichi both flinched at the same time.

“Me?” said Gundam while Kazuichi spluttered, “H-Him?”

Sonia bowed her head. “That’s right. Of all of us, I believe that he is the most capable. The machine has a dark aura that only someone like Tanaka-san will be able to endure.”

“That’s probably the smoke,” Nagito said.

Kazuichi gestured toward himself. “But I’m the one who built it! And it’s not like a real animal that he can go Doctor Dolittle on. And I know how to operate it and stuff!”

“Then you can teach Tanaka-san,” replied Sonia.

“But-!”

“Enough!” barked Sonia, shaking the hand on her outstretched arm, and Kazuichi immediately shut up.

“Sonia is right,” said Nekomaru. “Souda, you lack all the basic components of a warrior! Strength... Agility... Endurance... SPIRIT!!!”

Kazuichi pouted.

“H-Hey, that’s not for you to say!” he said.

Nagito raised a crooked finger. “But Souda-kun isn’t going to actually fight the Monobeasts himself, right? His Soudabeast will. So does it really matter?”

“We are not calling it that,” said Hajime loudly.

Nekomaru shook his head and placed his hands onto his hips. “In battle, the Soudabeast will be an extension of Souda’s self. His emotions are uncontrolled, and his punches will be erratic and bound to miss. If he doesn’t have the willpower, then he will be sure to lose.”

Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement. Kazuichi’s face crumpled.

Chiaki set her hand over her heart and said, “Souda-kun, teaching Tanaka-kun is a big responsibility, but you can do it... I think.”

The bit tacked onto the end wasn’t exactly encouraging, so Hajime couldn’t blame Kazuichi for simply slumping more in response.

“With Souda-kun’s expertise and Tanaka-kun’s taming experience, the limits of what they can achieve if they worked together is far beyond human perception,” said Nagito. He paused, and then let out a nervous laugh. “It’s certainly beyond mine, anyway.”

“It’s not a real animal,” Hajime told him. “It can’t think or feel. It just obeys whatever command that Souda inputs...”

Chiaki frowned, but the one who voiced their outrage at his remark was Nekomaru.

“Robots can have feelings too!” Nekomaru shouted. “Are you saying that I’m not real?”

Hajime cringed. “No! I mean, you’re different, and...”

Nekomaru’s eyes started to leak tea and cola.

Nagito rubbed circles onto Nekomaru’s back. “Hinata-kun, that wasn’t very nice.”

“Ah, don’t listen to him!” said Kazuichi. He bent forward and stroked the top of his creation’s head. “‘Sides, with what you said about following commands and stuff, Hinata, ain’t that just what regular animals do?”

Gundam looked visibly pained. “Fools, the lot of you, if you truly believe that I will learn anything from someone so deluded...”

“Oi, I can hear you,” snarled Kazuichi.

“I didn’t intend for you not to.”

Sonia’s shoulders sank and she sighed. “Oh, what a shame... My expectations of Souda-san were too high.”

Kazuichi shuddered like someone electrocuted him.

“Y-You can count on me, Sonia-san!” he promised.

She brightened up instantly and clapped her hands together. “Excellent! Then, how about you help Tanaka-san become familiar with the MechaHamster now? That way, we won’t have to wait for someone to die if we wish to explore the rest of this place...”

Kazuichi’s features darkened as he turned back to Gundam. He proffered his hand to Gundam, who regarded him with contempt, and after a while, Kazuichi realised that Gundam didn’t plan on unfolding his arms from over his chest, which caused Kazuichi to give a pronounced scowl. “What gives?”

“Do you have a death wish? All those who dare lay hand on my skin shall become infected by the poison that courses through my veins,” explained Gundam.

“Are you playing hard-to-get?” asked Kazuichi.

Hajime smacked himself on the forehead.

Gundam flushed. “W-What?”

“It ain’t gonna work on me so you can drop the act. That ‘ooh woo you’re gonna die if you touch me’ thing might work on some people, but not me.”

“If we were not in this situation,” said Gundam evenly, though his face remained pink, “then I would humour you. However, as it is, I do not wish to be executed unless my nutrients can give others the strength to grow.”

Kazuichi struck an incredibly gormless expression. “Huh?”

Not dignifying that with a reply, Gundam attempted to scramble onto the MechaHamster, a name that Hajime deemed acceptable. He had quite the height to climb, and the metal plating didn’t provide much grip. After a few minutes consisting of Gundam groping at the Mechahamster only for him to slide down to the ground each time he tried to pull himself up, Kazuichi squeezed his legs against his creation and it lowered itself so it was as short as it could possibly be.

“Why didn’t you do that earlier?” asked Chiaki with a finger hovering close to her mouth.

“Because,” said Kazuichi, but he said nothing else.

Gundam hopped on the spot, arms stretched out above him, and though his hands met the top of the MechaHamster with a thump, he started to slip down again.

Nagito’s face lit up. “Nidai-kun, if you’re a robot, you can’t be poisoned, right?”

Nekomaru needed a moment to process the relevance of what Nagito said. Then, remembering that he was indeed a robot, Nekomaru lurched forward and seized Gundam’s behind, pushing him up until Gundam could swing his leg over the MechaHamster so he straddled Kazuichi’s creation, face red, sat behind Kazuichi.

“How do you operate it?” asked Nagito. “I can’t see any buttons... Does it by chance have sensory and motion detectors, along with the AI you mentioned?”

Kazuichi prodded himself on the chest with his thumb. “Yep. Each of the plates where I’m sat performs a different function, and there’s even a control panel at the front. Wanna take a gander?”

“The sooner you start your tutoring, the better,” said Sonia.

“Right, right,” babbled Kazuichi and without warning, the MechaHamster bounded off, prompting Gundam to grasp Kazuichi by the waist and hold onto as much of Kazuichi’s jumpsuit as he could. Kazuichi didn’t seem to notice, for he would have overreacted if he did, and the MechaHamster was soon a speck in the distance.

Then, it wasn’t even that.

“Drive safely!” Nagito called after them.

For a while, Hajime and the others stared into the distance. The first person to finally move was Fuyuhiko, who scratched the back of his head and grumbled as he headed back into the hotel. Akane stuck her finger into her ear and trailed along after him, out of food.

“Sonia-san,” said Chiaki, once Akane and Fuzuhiko were no longer nearby.

“Hm?” went Sonia.

Chiaki tapped herself on the lips with her index finger. “You told me that in Novoselic, students were taught how to drive tanks at elementary school for a course on warfare.”

“That’s right,” confirmed Sonia.

There was a pause.

Hajime shifted his weight between feet. “So rather than lumping Tanaka with Souda, maybe you should have gone...?”

“Excuse me, but I must get back to my breakfast before it becomes inedible,” said Sonia. She pivoted on her heel, dress twirling, and marched into the hotel. Nagito patted Hajime on the shoulder, Chiaki yawned and Nekomaru asked if anyone wanted cola or rooibos tea.


End file.
